The impulses themselves are not patriotism. They form raw material for and give character to it, but they themselves are not patriotism. They serve equally well as raw material for other human interests far removed from this one. Instincts alone are unorganized, and are capable of being shaped into an indefinite number of meanings. The further question that will ultimately have to be answered is that concerning what the organizing factor is that can ever give to any combination of impulses the meaning,--patriotism. That investigation will next be entered upon. PART II THE HABITUATION OF PATRIOTISM CHAPTER III THE DELIBERATE HABITUATION One way by which the impulses and dispositions of human character are amalgamated in patriotism is by habituation. The habits of patriotism are just as powerful and important as the impulses. The impulses, in fact, are molded into habits, and are profoundly modified by the environment and regimen to which they are subjected. The habits become the masters of the impulses. Thought at this point enters into the problem, but it is not the individual’s own thought; it is the thought of the society which surrounds him. His articles of faith are habits acquired from society. “... It is through habit that the influence of intelligence has most control over the lives of the majority of civilized men.”[29] On the part of the individual, the thought is involuntary, or at least unvoluntary, and is accompanied by like action. Most of man’s beliefs are nonrational, even though he supposes that he has come to hold them by his own free and deliberate choice. Society holds tremendous power over the building of character; in large measure, it controls the material that the mind has to work on. And this control is of primary importance. “... The essential fact which has made the Great Society possible is the discovery, handed down by tradition and instruction, that Thought can be fed by deliberately collected material, and stimulated, sustained, and to a certain extent, controlled by an effort of will.”[30]